Last June, CTD project leader Mirjam de Bruijn delivered the Carl Schlettwein Lecture Digitalisation and the Field of African Studies to a packed house at the 7th European Conference on African Studies ECAS 2017 (28 June – 1 July 2017 in Basel).

Mirjam’s lecture can now be viewed on YouTube.

The Carl Schlettwein lecture, named after the philanthropist and Namibia-enthusiast who lend great support to the departments of African History and African Studies at the University of Basel, was the opening keynote of ECAS 2017.

In her lecture Digitalisation and the Field of African Studies Mirjam de Bruijn reflects on the past two decades of her research experience in West and Central Africa and how the field has changed for her, against the background of rapid technological developments in Africa and accompanying changes in economic opportunities, information flows, and people’s definition of self, of belonging and citizenship.

In response to these changes, she asks how she can translate co-creation into a form of critical knowledge production and how to identify its pitfalls, ultimately exploring the way technological change can help us redefine African Studies in the 21st century.

Read the full abstract here.